Hackaday

Hackaday is a daily blog that features numerous articles focused on hardware and software hacks. A hack can mean altering an existing product or software, or inventing something new for purposes like convenience, creativity, or functionality. In addition to the blog, Hackaday operates a YouTube channel where they share project ideas and instructional videos.

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A Web Based Controller For Your Garage Door

1 day ago | hackaday.com | Lewin Day

Garage doors! You could get out of your vehicle and open and close them yourself, but that kinda sucks. It’s much preferable to have them raise and lower courtesy some mechanical contrivance, and even better if that is controlled via the web. [Juan Schiavoni] shows us how to achieve the latter with their latest project. The web-based controller is based around a Xiao ESP32 microcontroller board, chosen for its baked-in WiFi connectivity.
Radio Apocalypse: Meteor Burst Communications

3 days ago | hackaday.com | Dan Maloney

The world’s militaries have always been at the forefront of communications technology. From trumpets and drums to signal flags and semaphores, anything that allows a military commander to relay orders to troops in the field quickly or call for reinforcements was quickly seized upon and optimized. So once radio was invented, it’s little wonder how quickly military commanders capitalized on it for field communications.
Hackaday Links: May 11, 2025

3 days ago | hackaday.com | Dan Maloney

Did artificial intelligence just jump the shark? Maybe so, and it came from the legal world of all places, with this report of an AI-generated victim impact statement. In an apparent first, the family of an Arizona man killed in a road rage incident in 2021 used AI to bring the victim back to life to testify during the sentencing phase of his killer’s trial.
Another Old ThinkPad Gets A New Motherboard

4 days ago | hackaday.com | Jenny List

The Thinkpad line of laptops, originally from IBM, and then from Lenovo, have long been the choice of many in our community. They offer a level of robustness and reliability missing in many cheaper machines. You may not be surprised to find that this article is being written on one. With such a following, it’s not surprising that a significant effort has gone into upgrading older models. For example, we have [Franck Deng]’s new motherboard for the Thinkpad X200 and X201.
Restoring A Sinclair C5 For The Road

4 days ago | hackaday.com | Jenny List

The Sinclair C5 was Sir Clive’s famous first venture into electric mobility, a recumbent electric-assisted tricycle which would have been hardly unusual in 2025. In 1985, though, the C5 was so far out there that it became a notorious failure. The C5 retains a huge following among enthusiasts, though, and among those is [JSON Alexander, who has bought one and restored it.
“Man And Machine” Vs “Man Vs Machine”

5 days ago | hackaday.com | Elliot Williams

Every time we end up talking about 3D printers, Al Williams starts off on how bad he is in a machine shop. I’m absolutely sure that he’s exaggerating, but the gist is that he’s much happier to work on stuff in CAD and let the machine take care of the precision and fine physical details. I’m like that too, but with me, it’s the artwork. I can’t draw to save my life, but once I get it into digital form, I’m pretty good at manipulating images.
PoE-powered GPIB Adapter With Ethernet And USB-C Support

5 days ago | hackaday.com | Maya Posch

In the world of (expensive) lab test equipment the GPIB (general purpose interface bus) connection is hard to avoid if you want any kind of automation, but nobody likes wrangling with the bulky cables and compatibility issues when they can just use Ethernet instead. Here [Chris]’s Ethernet-GPIB adapter provides an easy solution, with both Power over Ethernet (PoE) and USB-C power options. Although commercial adapters already exist, these are rather pricey at ~$500.
The Apple II MouseCard IRQ Is Synced To Vertical Blanking After All

5 days ago | hackaday.com | Maya Posch

Recently [Colin Leroy-Mira] found himself slipping into a bit of a rabbit hole while investigating why only under Apple II MAME emulation there was a lot of flickering when using the (emulated) Apple II MouseCard. This issue could not be reproduced on real (PAL or NTSC) hardware. The answer all comes down to how the card synchronizes with the system’s vertical blanking (VBL) while drawing to the screen.
A Single Chip Computer For The 8051 Generation

5 days ago | hackaday.com | Jenny List

The Intel 8051 series of 8-bit microcontrollers is long-discontinued by its original manufacturer, but lives on as a core included in all manner of more recent chips. It’s easy to understand and program, so it remains a fixture despite much faster replacements appearing. If you can’t find an original 40-pin DIP don’t worry, because [mit41301] has produced a board in a compatible 40-pin format.
Supercon 2024: An Immersive Motion Rehabilitation Device

6 days ago | hackaday.com | Lewin Day

When you’ve had some kind of injury, rehabilitation can be challenging. You often need to be careful about how you’re using the affected parts of your body, as well as pursue careful exercises for repair and restoration of function. It can be tedious and tiring work, for patients and treating practitioners alike. Juan Diego Zambrano, Abdelrahman Farag, and Ivan Hernandez have been working on new technology to aid those going through this challenging process.